Apply for a U.S. visa for Work and Travel (J-1) in Kosovo

College and university students outside the United States: enrolled full time, with at least one semester completed, and with enough English to work in an English-speaking place.⁵

Up to 4 months, in the long break between academic years. It cannot be extended, and you must be back home before your university starts again.⁵

Yes. Participants from a country outside the Visa Waiver Program, such as Kosovo, are placed in a job before they enter the United States.⁵

A visa for people approved to take part in an exchange visitor program in the United States. Its categories include au pair, camp counselor, intern, trainee, teacher, professor and research scholar, physician, college and secondary school student, and Summer Work Travel. You cannot take part in an exchange on a visitor visa or the Visa Waiver Program.³

From your program sponsor. Apply to an exchange program through a pre-approved organization in the United States. Once it accepts you, you are registered in SEVIS and the sponsor sends you the Form DS-2019. Trainees and interns also need Form DS-7002.³

If it applies to you, after your program you must live in your home country for at least 2 years in total before you can get an immigrant visa or an H, L or K visa. It applies if your program was funded by the U.S. government or your own government, if you came for graduate medical education or training, or if your field is on your country's Exchange Visitor Skills List.³

College and university students enrolled full time at a school outside the United States. You may take part for up to 4 months during the long break between academic years, as the Department of State sets it. Extensions are not permitted, and a spouse may not come with you.^18,19

$185 to the U.S. Department of State, €10 to DHL, and €2,000 for the whole program with The A Company, paid in three payments.^2,4,23

Online or at VFS. Online with a debit or credit card, or in cash at the VFS Visa Application Center in Pristina, Lidhja e Prizrenit St., No. 20, Tophane.^7,8

$185. If the visa is approved, an issuance fee may also apply, depending on your nationality. In a U.S. government sponsored exchange (of the Department of State, USAID or another federally funded exchange program), you and your family pay neither fee.^2,3

No. The visa application fee is non-refundable.²

In 15 days. The published wait for F, M and J interviews in Pristina, when last updated on October 21, 2026.¹⁷

Generally no. Apply at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the country of your nationality or where you live, and be able to show you live there if that is why you apply there. Elsewhere it may be more difficult to qualify, and the fee is not refunded or transferred.²⁰

No earlier than 30 days before your program start date. To arrive earlier you need a separate visitor (B) visa and a change of status from USCIS, approved before your program starts. Apply early: interview wait times vary.³

30 days after your program ends, to settle your affairs and leave. In that time you are no longer in J status: you may not work or continue the program, and you should not leave the United States, as you may not be let back in. If your sponsor ends your program for just cause, there is no grace period and you must leave at once.^19,21

Your passport, the DS-160 confirmation page, the fee receipt if you paid before the interview, and your Form DS-2019. Trainees and interns also bring Form DS-7002. The embassy may also ask for proof of the purpose of your travel, that you will leave the United States after it, and that you can pay its costs.³